Falcon senior Ali Worthen successfully defends GNAC heptathlon title...

ELLENSBURG--Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen (left/photo courtesy Seattle Pacific University) successfully defended her Great Northwest Athletic Conference heptathlon title as the multi-events portion of the championships concluded Tuesday at Tomlinson Stadium on the campus of Central Washington University.

Worthen, the senior from Coos Bay, Oregon's Marshfield HS, compiled a final score of 5199 points to win the GNAC title by 259 points over runner-up Kelsea Johnson of Alaska-Anchorage and set a new meet record.

Additionally, she moved up to #3 on this year's NCAA Division II performance list, and was a 128 point PR over her previous best score of 5071, set last month in Santa Barbara.

“I'm  happy I got that high – 5,200 was just one point away, so that's not much of a difference,” said Worthen. “I'm in a lot better shape than I was last year. And a lot of it is that I'm finally learning those events that I've struggled with.”

Placing in the top eight were Katie Reichert of Western Washington in third at 4269; Tayler Fettig of Central Washington at 4217; Maliea Luquin of Seattle Pacific at 4046 in seventh; and Brooklyn Holton of Western in eighth at 3964 points.

In the decathlon, Western Washington's Alex Harrison, who was in sixth at the halfway mark, scored a meet record 6598 points to beat defending champion Nate Johnson of Seattle Pacific by 124 points.

First day leader Jason Caryl of Central Washington was third with 6412 points. a mark that enabled him to meet the provisional NCAA Division II national qualifying standard, and which currently ranks him 20th nationally.

Teammates Brandon Roddewig and Manny Melo finished fourth and fifth with 6118 and 6098 points, respectively.

The other two Central Washington decathletes, Andrew Venema and Colin Alexander, finished seventh with 5701 and 5679 points, respectively.

The duration of the GNAC track and field championships will be held May 11-12 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.

Complete decathlon results are available here, while the heptathlon results are available here.

In Baie-Mahault, Guadeloupe, Rainier Beach HS alum Ginnie Crawford finished second in the 100 meter hurdles at the Meeting Region Guadeloupe in a time of 12.87, as Dawn Harper, the reigning Olympic champ won in a time of 12 71.

You can read the recap of the meet here.

The complete results are available here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of Western Washington, Central Washington, and Seattle Pacific University contributed to this report.